Prairie South passes 2014-15 budget

Division projects deficit of $3.89 million

Brian Swanson, Jan Radwanski and Ron Gleim voted in unison at Tuesday’s Prairie South School Division (PSSD) board meeting. It was not, however, enough to prevent the board from passing the 2014-15 proposed budget.

Al Kessler makes a point during discussion of the Prairie South School Division's (PSSD) 2014-15 proposed budget Tuesday. Kessler, a PSSD trustee, voted in favour of the budget, which was passed with three votes against.

The three PSSD trustees were the only ones to vote against a budget that proposed a deficit of $3,894,275.

“While it is a pretty good budget – and I’m very tempted to vote for it – it doesn’t address the two major issues of long-term funding for our capital projects and a balanced budget,” Gleim told his fellow board members.

Gleim said he thought it was possible for PSSD to produce a balanced budget in two years, but it’s too soon to tell whether or not that goal will be achieved.

Radwanski noted he would like to see a five-year forecast detailing things like the cost of capital requirements. He added that the process of budget discussions felt rather rushed – for the second straight year, something board chairman Shawn Davidson took responsibility for.

“I don’t think, personally, I have a good handle on our capital requirements,” said Radwanski. “We have until June 30 to approve the budget, so I’d like to take more time to study the proposed document and get further information with regards to capital requirements.”

Unfortunately for Radwanski, the board’s vote to approve said document meant he would not be granted that extra time to review its contents.

Swanson voted against the budget for a few reasons, one of which was because he felt there were not enough provisions in the budget directed at the maintenance of PSSD facilities.

“We need to adjust it such that we look at operating our schools at a sustainable level and that’s not what we are doing,” he explained to board members.”

Swanson also referenced a letter he saw from the provincial government noting school divisions would have to enforce efficiencies and tighten their administrative belts.

According to the budget, administrative expenses are projected to be $103,967 higher in 2014-15 than in the current school year – nearly three-quarters of which is the result of salary costs.

Bernie Girardin, superintendent of business and operations, explained to the Times-Herald the reason for the hike in salaries.

“There’s a couple of reasons that factor into that,” he said. “One is a small increase in salaries and with a new director (of education) coming onboard we’ll be paying two directors for about three months of the year.”

Compared with the approved 2013-14 budget, the 2014-15 budget actually shows a deficit reduction of approximately $230,000, down from $4,124,378. However, both budgets show greater deficits than the final 2012-13 budget calculations, which showed PSSD was about $1.8 million in the red.

The last time Prairie South saw a surplus was in 2010-11, when the division stood at $1,409,883 in the black.

Girardin said one of the reasons for the division’s higher deficits in recent years is, in part, because new accounting methods forced PSSD to start including amortization and future employee benefit costs.

“We are probably never going to have a balanced budget in the operating (expenses) side because of the amortization,” Girardin said.

Trustee Al Kessler was not afraid of the yawning deficit and was part of the majority who voted in favour of the budget.

“We are going to save money in the future,” Kessler said.

However, like Radwanski, he noted the process of discussing ways to create budget efficiencies needs to start earlier in the school year.

Nathan Liewicki can be reached at 306-691-1256 or follow him on Twitter @liewicks

Al Kessler makes a point during discussion of the Prairie South School Division's (PSSD) 2014-15 proposed budget Tuesday. Kessler, a PSSD trustee, voted in favour of the budget, which was passed with three votes against.